The Election Commission would like to have you believe that poll rigging and booth capturing are history. But this election has seen plenty of both.

Is the electoral process in India truly free and fair? Given that polling proceeds peacefully in most of the country despite the overwhelming logistics of exercise, that's largely true. In fact, the Election Commission wants India's 814 million voters to believe that polling is entirely controversy-free.

“Booth capturing and other poll violations are history,” said SY Quraishi, former chief election commissioner of India, as he listed for Scroll.in a slew of measures that the EC has been taking over the past decade to ensure smooth elections. “Before the polls, through vulnerability mappings, we ensure that suspicious characters are arrested in advance, pending non-bailable warrants are executed and legal and illegal arms are deposited with the police,” he said. “During the polls, paramilitary forces are deployed throughout the country, cameras are placed at all booths and if there is any suspicion or complaint of unfair polling, each case is looked into and a re-poll is ordered.”

However, the headlines emerging from election coverage across the country tell a slightly different story. For one, booth capturing is evidently not history. There have been complaints of proxy voting, and voter turnouts greater than 100%. There are thousands of complaints about names missing from the voter’s list, which some voters suspect might be politically motivated. In several cases, re-elections have already been conducted.

What is true, though, is that these violations have been brought to light by the EC's staff and cameras, which has allowed them to be dealt with swiftly.

Here are some of the poll violations India has seen during the ongoing general election 2014.

Uttar Pradesh: This week, the EC announced re-polling at five centres in UP’s Firozabad and Etawah constituencies, after receiving several complaints about booth capturing, bogus voting and intimidation of voters. The constituencies happen to be Samajwadi Party strongholds, and Bharatiya Janata party candidate VK Singh alleged on April 10 that SP workers had threatened his booth agent in Ghaziabad.

Meanwhile in Rampur, where polling was held on April 17, police arrested two miscreants for booth capturing. The two were allegedly part of a larger group of 30 to 40 people who took over the polling centre and voted at the booths themselves. Last week, the EC declared the voting at those poll centres null and void.

Assam: The Guwahati Lok Sabha constituency had to have a re-election on Monday after a team of polling officials were caught rigging the exercise. At one booth, a village defence party member Bimal Boro could be seen on CCTV camera accompanying voters right up to the voting machine and “guiding” them as they voted. After a local news channel aired the footage, the whole polling team was arrested, along with Boro. The six are now in judicial custody.

Nagaland: More than 40 polling stations in Nagaland, which voted on April 9, recorded a voter turnout of more than 100%. At many booths, the turnout was more than 90%. On April 24, armed with video clips and photographs, local Congress leaders filed a complaint with the chief election commissioner alleging proxy voting and poll rigging in about 1,000 of the state’s 2,049 polling stations. The ruling party, Naga People’s Front, has dismissed these allegations.

Haryana: Although the Mewat district in Haryana saw a 78% voter turnout, very few residents had inked fingers to display after voting on April 10. There have been widespread allegations of booth capturing, poll rigging, bogus voting and of voters – particularly women and dalits – being prevented from entering poll booths by local goons. Most of this allegedly took place with the complicity of the police and polling staff. The EC is now studying these cases, although Mewat locals claim such violations have been common practice in the region during every election.

Maharashtra: Newspapers reported widely on Instances of names going missing from the voters’ list in Mumbai, but there is still no conclusive figure of how many eligible voters could not cast their votes on April 24. While some reports say thousands found their names deleted, others claim up to 200,000 Mumbaiites were denied the chance to vote. Across the state, six million voters are said to have been taken off the list. Pune, which voted on April 17, also saw complaints of mass deletions from the voters’ list. Although a preliminary report from the Pune collector’s office revealed that only 1,200 of the deletions were genuine cases, the furore around the missing names forced election commissioner HS Brahma to apologise to voters in Mumbai and Pune.

Rajasthan: This week, the Times of Indiareported multiple instances of proxy voting in Dausa, Rajasthan, where poll officials are said to have accompanied voters into the polling booth, pressing the button for them. They were seen to be doing this largely for illiterate women who did not know how to operate the EVM.

Odisha: In Odisha’s Kendrapada district, too, TV footage of a polling booth showed a man “assisting” women voters to press a button on the EVM, while a polling official looked on. The official was suspended this week and other polling officers and agents at the centre are also being probed.

Madhya Pradesh: When several constituencies went to the polls on April 17, two reports of booth capturing were reported. Miscreants from the Chambal valley allegedly took over two polling centres in Sagar constituency, cast several votes and threatened poll officials. The police are yet to trace the absconding poll violators.

Jharkhand: Dalits attempting to cast their votes in Gardih village in Koderma constituency on April 10 were allegedly beaten up by upper-caste Bhumihars. The dalit were attempting to vote for the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) while the Bhumihars were BJP supporters.

Why do our clothes fade, tear and lose their sheen?

From purchase to the back of the wardrobe – the life-cycle of a piece of clothing.

It’s an oft repeated story - shiny new dresses and smart blazers are bought with much enthusiasm, only to end up at the back of the wardrobe, frayed, faded or misshapen. From the moment of purchase, clothes are subject to wear and tear caused by nature, manmade chemicals and....human mishandling.

Just the act of wearing clothes is enough for gradual erosion. Some bodily functions aren’t too kind on certain fabrics. Sweat - made of trace amounts of minerals, lactic acid and urea - may seem harmless. But when combined with bacteria, it can weaken and discolour clothes over time. And if you think this is something you can remedy with an antiperspirant, you’ll just make matters worse. The chemical cocktail in deodorants and antiperspirants leads to those stubborn yellowish stains that don’t yield to multiple wash cycles or scrubbing sessions. Linen, rayon, cotton and synthetic blends are especially vulnerable.

Add to that, sun exposure. Though a reliable dryer and disinfectant, the UV radiation from the sun causes clothes to fade. You needn’t even dry your clothes out in the sun; walking outside on a sunny day is enough for your clothes to gradually fade.

And then there’s what we do to our clothes when we’re not wearing them - ignoring labels, forgetting to segregate while washing and maintaining improper storage habits. You think you know how to hang a sweater? Not if you hang it just like all your shirts - gravity stretches out the neck and shoulders of heavier clothing. Shielding your clothes by leaving them in the dry-cleaning bag? You just trapped them in humidity and foul odour. Fabrics need to breathe, so they shouldn’t be languishing in plastic bags. Tossing workout clothes into the laundry bag first thing after returning home? It’s why the odour stays. Excessive moisture boosts fungal growth, so these clothes need to be hung out to dry first. Every day, a whole host of such actions unleash immense wear and tear on our clothes.

Clothes encounter maximum resistance in the wash; it’s the biggest factor behind premature degeneration of clothes. Wash sessions that don’t adhere to the rules of fabric care have a harsh impact on clothes. For starters, extra effort often backfires. Using more detergent than is indicated may seem reasonable for a tub full of soiled clothes, but it actually adds to their erosion. Aggressive scrubbing, too, is counterproductive as it worsens stains. And most clothes can be worn a few times before being put in the wash, unless of course they are sweat-soaked gym clothes. Daily washing of regulars exposes them to too much friction, hastening their wear and tear.

Different fabrics react differently to these abrasive agents. Natural fabrics include cotton, wool, silk and linen and each has distinct care requirements. Synthetic fabrics, on the other hand, are sensitive to heat and oil.

A little bit of conscious effort will help your clothes survive for longer. You can start by lessening the forces acting on the clothes while washing. Sort your clothes by fabric instead of colour while loading them in the washing machine. This helps save lighter fabrics from the friction of rubbing against heavier ones. It’s best to wash denim materials separately as they are quite coarse. For the same reason, clothes should be unzipped and buttoned before being tossed in the washing machine. Turning jeans, printed clothes and shirts inside out while loading will also ensure any abrasion is limited to the inner layers only. Avoid overloading the washing machine to reduce friction between the clothes.

Your choice of washing tools also makes a huge difference. Invest in a gentler detergent, devoid of excessive dyes, perfumes and other unnecessary chemicals. If you prefer a washing machine for its convenience, you needn’t worry anymore. The latest washing machines are far gentler, and even equipped to handle delicate clothing with minimal wear and tear.

Bosch’s range of top loading washing machines, for example, care for your everyday wear to ensure they look as good as new over time. The machines make use of the PowerWave Wash System to retain the quality of the fabrics. The WaveDrum movement adds a top-down motion to the regular round action for a thorough cleaning, while the dynamic water flow reduces the friction and pulling forces on the clothes.

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The intelligent system also creates water displacement for better movement of clothes, resulting in lesser tangles and clothes that retain their shape for longer. These wash cycles are also noiseless and more energy efficient as the motor is directly attached to the tub to reduce overall friction. Bosch’s top loading washing machines take the guesswork away from setting of controls by automatically choosing the right wash program based on the load. All that’s needed is a one-touch start for a wash cycle that’s free of human errors. Read more about the range here. You can also follow Bosch on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

This article was produced by the Scroll marketing team on behalf of Bosch and not by the Scroll editorial team.